Its been with great infrequency that I use The Bummer Life as a forum for any sort of formal political rant, but I feel the need to elaborate a bit on what I blurted on Tuesday– I was using Critical Mass as an example of what I feel to be a continually futile and politically ignored exercise to make a point, which has for these last sixteen years fallen on deaf ears, and how anyone could take part in the event when they don’t even bother involving themselves in a process that might actually aid in realizing their ultimate objective. Believe me, I’m one of the most jaded individuals you might ever come across, but I do, to the core of my being, believe that banding together in an attempt to make a singular voice heard can and has made a difference. I’m not of the opinion that boycotting the Democratic process hurts anybody, but everyone. Read more: howtoavoidthebummerlife.com

Steve is talking my language.

In a case that might have far-reaching implications for cyclists riding in organised groups, a Scottish cyclist is seeking damages from a fellow rider after being seriously injured in a crash. Read the rest: bikeradar.com

That can’t be good for any of us who are apt to create wrecks and chaos on the roadways. And by “us” I mean “me”.

Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who had been at the concert with a couple of buddies, took leave of the bar around 1 a.m. and apparently forgot that it is illegal to take drinks from the club out to the streets. Backstage door man Sean Higgins, obviously not concerned with the celebrity of the person who was breaking the law, quickly ran over to Armstrong and his pal and rather forcefully made it clear that the guys could not walk off with drinks…

Mayor Daley, who once scraped the skin off his kneecap during a marathon bike ride in Michigan, has been there and done that. He has had drivers open car doors in his path. He has had cars turn left in front of him and had a car pass within three feet of his bike.

“When someone opens a door — that’s why you have to be very, very alert on a bike,” Daley said.

“Yes, it’s taken place. And [there were] a few choice words. Every biker does that — salutes the driver in a Chicago way.”

All three violations were targeted by the ordinance introduced by Daley at Wednesday’s City Council meeting. It’s designed to reduce the number of crashes involving bikes and motor vehicles. There were 6,000 such crashes in Chicago between 2001 and 2005, killing 30 cyclists. Read more: suntimes.com

Keep’n it safe in Chicago. Even the Mayor flips the bird up there. Good looking out.

About big jonny

The man, the legend. The guy who started it all back in the Year of Our Lord Beer, 2000, with a couple of pages worth of idiotic ranting hardcoded on some random porn site that would host anything you uploaded, a book called HTML for Dummies (which was completely appropriate), a bad attitude (which hasn’t much changed), and a Dell desktop running Win95 with 64 mgs of ram and a six gig hard drive. Those were the days. Then he went to law school. Go figure.
Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

6 thoughts on “Link Dump”

I read the comments on the Chicago article when it first came out and it was amazing how fast the topic changed from people in cars killing and injuring cyclists to cyclists running stop signs and red lights, with accompanying vitriol.

…mitt & his family just thought he’d make a really “good looking” president…to the tune of 40 million bucks worth of the ancestorial fortunes…
…’til his train got a little derailed & the repub leaders said ‘pull your wreck off the track, now !’…

…despite all the machinations of chicago politics, hizzoner richard daley jr. has been a solid proponent of cycling in that town, all throughout his reign…guy’s been in office since ’89, regularly garners upwards of 70% of the mayoral vote & i’m bettin’ the majority of his constituents couldn’t give a rat’s ass about cycling but the ‘boss’ rides & so every cyclist in town benefits…

Mitt Romney was unelectable. I mean, we routinely elect religious wack jobs, but at least they come from mainstream sects. Bottom line, you can’t trust a Mo any further than you can throw ’em… they “answer to a higher authority” than any human and thus will blithely lie, cheat and steal in the name of god.